Ayudha Pooja

On the 9th day of Dasara, we celebrate the Ayudha Pooja. It is celebrated in a very grand manner in B’Lore. This year it is on Saturday 20th October 2007. All commercial organizations, buses, Cars,shops, houses (and all instruments in the house) are cleaned, we put Banana leaves in front of the doors, flowers, apply Haldi and Kumkum on each and every tool.

There are 2 stories for why we perform the Ayudha pooja.

1. After the slaying of Mahishasura and other demons by Goddess Chamundeswari, there was no more use for her weapons. So the weapons were kept aside and worshipped.

My Mom’s native is Mysore, my grandmother and uncles still live in Mysore. So, I have visited the Chamundi Hills(betta) many many times. Here is a link of a web site which has tons of details on Chamundi hills in Mysore.

2. On the Vijayadasami day, Arjuna took back his weapons which he had hidden in atree in order to lead a life in disguise during his exile.

When I was a kid, we in our family used to perform pooja to every tool, instrument in our house. The whole house had a festive look. We do the same here also, but the excitement we have when we are kids is so much different from the grown up life.